ETC Awards Limited · RQF Level 3
ETCAL Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Toolmaking
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits105
- Guided learning316 hours
- Units in this qualification46
Awarded by ETC Awards Limited · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
This qualification is for individuals working in engineering toolmaking. It allows candidates to demonstrate competence in areas such as complying with regulations, producing toolroom components using CNC grinding machines, and machining components using various machines.
These are the units ETC Awards Limited registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Assembling blow mould toolsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble blow mould tools in accordance with manufacturer's instructions
- Continue to assemble blow mould tools, ensuring correct alignment and functionality
- Understand the principles of blow mould tool assembly
- Know the safety precautions and procedures for assembling blow mould tools
Assembling diesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble dies in accordance with specified procedures and safety guidelines.
- Continue to assemble dies, adapting techniques as necessary to overcome challenges.
- Understand the processes and techniques involved in assembling dies.
- Understand the factors that affect the assembly of dies and how to address them.
Assembling injection mould toolsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble injection mould tools according to technical drawings and specifications.
- Continue to assemble injection mould tools, troubleshooting and resolving any assembly issues.
- Understand the function and interaction of different components within injection mould tools.
- Understand the importance of precision and alignment in the assembly of injection mould tools.
Assembling jig and fixture structures using a manual welding processReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble jig and fixture structures using a manual welding process
- Assemble jig and fixture structures using a manual welding process
Assembling jigs and fixtures using mechanical methodsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble jigs and fixtures using mechanical methods, following engineering drawings and specifications.
- Assemble jigs and fixtures using mechanical methods, including understanding of different fastening techniques and component alignment.
Assembling press toolsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble press tools
- Assemble press tools
Assembling vacuum forming toolsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Assemble vacuum forming tools according to specified procedures
- Continue to assemble vacuum forming tools, addressing any challenges encountered
- Understand the processes involved in assembling vacuum forming tools
- Know the safety precautions and procedures for assembling vacuum forming tools
Carrying out CNC machine tool programmingReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out CNC machine tool programming to produce required components.
- Carry out CNC machine tool programming, including understanding of relevant codes and machine operation.
Carrying out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipmentReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipment.
- Demonstrate the ability to carry out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipment in a sustained manner.
- Describe the processes involved in carrying out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipment.
- Explain how to carry out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipment in a sustained manner.
Carrying out fault diagnosis on mould, press tool or die equipmentReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out fault diagnosis on mould, press tool or die equipment.
- Carry out fault diagnosis on mould, press tool or die equipment.
Carrying out planned maintenance on mould, press tool or die equipmentReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out planned maintenance on mould, press tool or die equipment
- Carry out planned maintenance on mould, press tool or die equipment
Carrying out planned maintenance on power pressesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out planned maintenance on power presses according to schedules
- Continue to carry out planned maintenance on power presses, documenting all work performed
- Understand the principles of planned maintenance for power presses
- Know the safety regulations and procedures for carrying out planned maintenance on power presses
Carrying out repairs or modifications to jigs or fixturesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out repairs or modifications to jigs or fixtures
- Carry out repairs or modifications to jigs or fixtures
Checking that toolroom assemblies comply with specificationReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Check that toolroom assemblies comply with specification
- Check that toolroom assemblies comply with specification
Complying with statutory regulations and organisational safety requirementsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Comply with statutory regulations and organisational safety requirements in an engineering environment.
- Comply with statutory regulations and organisational safety requirements, understanding the relevant legislation and procedures.
Fabricating structural components for jigs and fixturesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Fabricate structural components for jigs and fixtures, ensuring accuracy and structural integrity.
- Continue to fabricate structural components for jigs and fixtures, optimising fabrication methods for efficiency.
- Understand the design principles and material selection for structural components in jigs and fixtures.
- Understand the fabrication techniques and equipment used in creating structural components.
Handing over and confirming the completion of mould, press tool or die equipmentReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Hand over and confirm the completion of mould, press tool or die equipment.
- Hand over and confirm the completion of mould, press tool or die equipment.
Handing over and confirming the completion of mould, press tool or die equipment maintenance activitiesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Hand over and confirm the completion of mould, press tool or die equipment maintenance activities
- Hand over and confirm the completion of mould, press tool or die equipment maintenance activities
Loading and proving CNC machine tool programsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Load and prove CNC machine tool programs.
- Load and prove CNC machine tool programs.
Machining components for jigs and fixturesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine components for jigs and fixtures.
- Demonstrate the ability to machine components for jigs and fixtures in a sustained manner.
- Describe the processes involved in machining components for jigs and fixtures.
- Explain how to machine components for jigs and fixtures in a sustained manner.
Machining toolroom components using a range of machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine toolroom components using a range of machines
- Machine toolroom components using a range of machines
Machining toolroom components using centre lathesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine toolroom components using centre lathes, adhering to technical drawings
- Continue to machine toolroom components using centre lathes, ensuring accuracy and quality
- Understand the operation of centre lathes for machining toolroom components
- Know the safety procedures and best practices for machining toolroom components using centre lathes
Machining toolroom components using electro-discharge machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine toolroom components using electro-discharge machines
- Machine toolroom components using electro-discharge machines
Machining toolroom components using grinding machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine toolroom components using grinding machines, adhering to specified tolerances and surface finishes.
- Continue to machine toolroom components using grinding machines, refining techniques for optimal results.
- Understand the principles and operation of grinding machines used for toolroom components.
- Understand the properties of materials and their behaviour during grinding processes.
Machining toolroom components using milling machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Machine toolroom components using milling machines
- Machine toolroom components using milling machines
Maintaining mould, press tool or die equipmentReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain mould, press tool or die equipment in accordance with specified procedures.
- Maintain mould, press tool or die equipment, including relevant safety precautions.
Preparing and setting power pressesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare and set power presses.
- Prepare and set power presses.
Producing jig and fixture components using hand fitting techniquesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce jig and fixture components using hand fitting techniques.
- Produce jig and fixture components using hand fitting techniques.
Producing mould, press tool or die components by manual machiningReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce mould, press tool or die components by manual machining techniques.
- Produce mould, press tool or die components by manual machining, including selection of appropriate tools and techniques.
Producing toolroom components using CNC electro-discharge machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC electro-discharge machines
- Produce toolroom components using CNC electro-discharge machines
Producing toolroom components using CNC grinding machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC grinding machines
- Produce toolroom components using CNC grinding machines
Producing toolroom components using CNC laser profiling machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC laser profiling machines
- Produce toolroom components using CNC laser profiling machines
Producing toolroom components using CNC machining centresReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC machining centres.
- Demonstrate the ability to produce toolroom components using CNC machining centres in a sustained manner.
- Describe the processes involved in producing toolroom components using CNC machining centres.
- Explain how to produce toolroom components using CNC machining centres in a sustained manner.
Producing toolroom components using CNC milling machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC milling machines.
- Demonstrate the ability to produce toolroom components using CNC milling machines in a sustained manner.
- Describe the processes involved in producing toolroom components using CNC milling machines.
- Explain how to produce toolroom components using CNC milling machines in a sustained manner.
Producing toolroom components using CNC turning machinesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce toolroom components using CNC turning machines
- Produce toolroom components using CNC turning machines
Producing/finishing mould, press tool or die components using hand fitting techniquesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Produce or finish mould, press tool or die components using hand fitting techniques
- Produce or finish mould, press tool or die components using hand fitting techniques
Repairing or modifying mould, press tool or die componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Repair or modify mould, press tool or die components, restoring them to operational condition or adapting them to new requirements.
- Continue to repair or modify mould, press tool or die components, employing advanced techniques for complex repairs.
- Understand the causes of failure and wear in mould, press tool or die components.
- Understand the appropriate repair and modification techniques for different types of damage and component materials.
Setting a range of machines to produce toolroom componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Set a range of machines to produce toolroom components
- Set a range of machines to produce toolroom components
Setting centre lathes to produce toolroom componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Set centre lathes to produce toolroom components.
- Demonstrate the ability to set centre lathes to produce toolroom components in a sustained manner.
- Describe the processes involved in setting centre lathes to produce toolroom components.
- Explain how to set centre lathes to produce toolroom components in a sustained manner.
Setting electro-discharge machines to produce toolroom componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Set electro-discharge machines to produce toolroom components
- Set electro-discharge machines to produce toolroom components
Setting grinding machines to produce toolroom componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Set grinding machines to produce toolroom components
- Set grinding machines to produce toolroom components
Setting milling machines to produce toolroom componentsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Set milling machines to produce toolroom components
- Set milling machines to produce toolroom components
Trying out and proving diesReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Try out and prove dies to ensure they meet required specifications.
- Try out and prove dies, including understanding of die function and fault diagnosis.
Trying out and proving injection mouldsReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Try out and prove injection moulds to meet required specifications
- Continue to try out and prove injection moulds, making necessary adjustments
- Understand the principles and techniques for trying out and proving injection moulds
- Know the safety requirements and procedures for trying out and proving injection moulds
Using and interpreting engineering data and documentationReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Use and interpret engineering data and documentation accurately
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to use and interpret engineering data and documentation
Working efficiently and effectively in engineeringReal unit · ETC Awards Limited
What you'll be able to do
- Work efficiently and effectively in engineering environments
- Demonstrate knowledge of how to work efficiently and effectively in engineering environments
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this

The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Assembling blow mould tools
- Assembling injection mould tools
- Assembling jig and fixture structures using a manual welding process
- Assembling jigs and fixtures using mechanical methods
- Assembling press tools
- Carrying out CNC fabrication machine tool programming
- Carrying out CNC machine tool programming
- Carrying out condition monitoring of mould, press tool or die equipment
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your own work
Learners will gain the ability to assemble blow mould tools according to manufacturer's instructions. This includes preparing tools, assembling components in sequence, using appropriate equipment, checking alignment, and ensuring functionality.
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for ETCAL Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Engineering Toolmaking
46 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by ETC Awards Limited.
- Assembling blow mould tools
- Assembling dies
- Assembling injection mould tools
- Assembling jig and fixture structures using a manual welding process
- Assembling jigs and fixtures using mechanical methods
- Assembling press tools
and 40 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.